Roof vents are employed as integral parts of a useful roof design. Roof vents are most often used for equalizing the pressure and/or the temperature between the interior and the exterior of a building. To do this, the vent provides a passage for air to flow out of a house, building, warehouse, attic or otherwise unventilated room or area to the outside and vice-versa. A desirable roof vent also inhibits liquid and solid contaminants, particularly water, traversing through the openings which allow the air to flow. In addition, a desirable roof vent is structurally sound such that it may withstand the pressure of high winds, heavy snow or other debris which might crush or pull apart a vent having an unsatisfactory design. It is desired to have a roof vent exhibiting all three of these features. It is further desired to have such a vent which also which fits discretely under the tiles of a typical clay or concrete tile roof.
A previous roof vent design of O'Hagin's, Inc. includes a base with an air inlet/outlet opening to the interior of a building and a cover having exterior louvres through which air might flow through the interior of the vent and through the air inlet/outlet opening. Structural support is provided by side walls of the vent connecting at edges of the cover and base and a compact design. Solid contaminants and water are inhibited from traversing the vent by a wire screen or mesh over the air inlet/outlet opening, and by the design of the exterior louvres.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,502 to Smith discloses a ridge vent which has portions lying on either side of a ridge and rows of exterior louvre-shaped air passages on the cover of the vent to provide passages for air flow through the vent. A roofline ventilator having rows of louvres opening downwardly and outwardly are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,291 to Kutsch et al. A roof ventilator is also disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,238,862 to L. L. Smith et al. having side walls with louvres and a bell-shaped cover configured to allow air to flow through the louvres in the side walls to the outside, while still inhibiting water and other contaminants from passing through the vent.
U.S. Pat. No. 311,784 shows a skylight having openings through two of which light or air might pass without providing an avenue for water to get in. Another roof ridge vent is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,692 to Shuert having an opening in the gravitationally-speaking bottom-most facing portion of the vent to allow air to flow downwardly out of the vent from the interior of a building. As water flows in the direction of gravity, this opening does not allow water to get into the vent in the absence of excessive wind.